What a year it's been. Windows Phone was quite immature at this time last year (though ChevronWP7 made it's short-lived debut), and through this year, we've seen massive growth. But we've also seen a lot of opposition, and developments that have impeded using Windows Phone to it's full potential.

Though I usually find prediction posts largely inaccurate and otherwise ridiculous, there are a couple of important points I would like to make here. Simply put, I'm under the impression that homebrew will not be a charmer in this coming year.

Not to dwell in the past, but over the last year, homebrew saw quite a bit of attention. Registry editors and file explorers were developed, then Mango came along and ruined interop access, which, even today, is something we struggle to get around. Full unlocked ROMs were developed, but some recent SPL updates try to defeat that. ChevronWP7 Labs made a debut, which brought homebrew back into the hands of the casual user, only to be cut short at 10,000 unlocks. (Update: as Rafael Rivera has clarified, Microsoft is not shutting down the project, but rather, is not yet involved in the decision of whether the project will receive more unlocking tokens) The Windowbreak project debuted.

I apologize for interrupting the parallel structure on that last sentence, but simply put, the opposition for it hasn't come... yet. Call that one of my predictions for 2012; every other exploit, development, etc., has been combated against, or otherwise reached a limit.

Why? Does Microsoft hate unofficial homebrew? Are these all coincidental? Why knows at this point. What we do know, however, is that opposition is not uncommon with this line of development, and to think a shift in years since the epoch could change this would be purely absurd.

Of course, there is a chance, and something much needed, that a lower-level exploit will come about, one that will allow full-range jailbreaking and bring a universal unlock to all Windows Phone users. Something that, while undoubtedly patchable, would allow for freedom on all ends of the spectrum, and would make it a casual thing to "unlock" one's device. This is a pure dream, however.

Simply put, and being concise, my prediction for 2012 is this: The cat and mouse game will continue.